ABSTRACT
Introduction Ethylene oxide-based surfactants are compounds that contain a poly(ethylene oxide) chain as the hydrophile. They comprise a number of major surfactant classes, including alcohol ethoxylates; alcohol ether sulfates; alkylphenol ethoxylates; ethoxylated nitrogen compounds, such as alkylamine ethoxylates; and ethylene oxide/propylene oxide block copolymers (Table 1). More than 2 million metric tons of various ethoxylates are currently produced each year by more than 450 different ethoxylators worldwide.
